


The Fireside Café

by foobar137



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shop, Community: trope_bingo, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-10
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-04 20:10:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/714596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foobar137/pseuds/foobar137
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU-Coffee Shop. The Fireside Café is the most popular coffee shop in downtown Danville, but business is slow on a snowy Valentine's Day until a couple inventors stop in to see their favorite baristas. Trope Bingo: AU-coffee shop. Phinbella/Ferbetchen/Balinger. The party is now starting - re-rated T for new content. Now complete in three chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trope Bingo: AU - coffee shop
> 
> I had no idea that this was a thing, but it came up on my bingo board and my brain apparently decided it liked it.
> 
> This feels like the first chapter of about a three-chapter story. It also feels like it’s the pilot episode of a sitcom. These things may be related.

Isabella sighed and looked out the window at the snow blowing outside. The apartment she shared with Gretchen was close enough that they could walk to work - handy for picking up extra shifts in weather like this, but that meant they had to walk through weather like this. The Fireside Café was one of the most popular coffee shops in downtown Danville, but with this much snow, there weren't many customers - mostly just the plow drivers who wanted a warm drink and a few minutes in front of the fireplace that was the café’s focal point.

"Worst Valentine's Day ever," she said to Gretchen, who sat behind the cash register reading a book.

Ginger commented from her table by the fireplace, "What, you don't think that _boy_ you like will go through a foot of snow for a cup of coffee from you? I saw that the antique shop is closed today due to weather."

“He’s not a _boy_ , Ginger,” Isabella replied testily.

“He lives in his parents’ basement with his green-haired freak of a brother,” Ginger said snidely, causing Gretchen to bristle. Ginger continued, “And all they do is play with their silly inventions that will never work, and work at their parents’ antique shop.”

“And I’ve still got a better shot with him than you do with _Doctor_ Tjinder, Ginger,” Isabella stated. “Anyway, what are you doing here? You aren’t even scheduled to work today.”

Ginger glared at Isabella and took a sip of her coffee. “I lost power at my apartment, and didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

The front door opened, letting in a blast of cold air, and two young men walked in, stomping snow off their boots onto the welcome mat. The shorter one pulled off his hat, revealing a shock of short red hair, while the taller had long green hair peeking out from inside his hood.

Isabella smiled at them. “Hi Phineas, hi Ferb. Whatcha doin’?”

Phineas smiled back. “We lost power at the house, so we figured we’d come here to warm up. I’ll have my usual. You too, Ferb?”

Ferb nodded.

Isabella grabbed two cups and marked them. “Large cappuccino, two extra shots,” she marked Phineas’s drink and put a heart around the spot for his name, “and a medium mint mocha,” she said as she marked Ferb’s drink with an F. She turned to the espresso machine and started prepping shots as Phineas and Ferb paid Gretchen for their drinks.

* * *

Phineas sat by the fireplace, looking at his cup. “Huh, she marked it with a heart. Must be because it’s Valentine’s Day.”

Ferb turned his cup to show Phineas the F mark.

“Weird, I wonder why she did that?”

Ferb shook his head and sighed. _He still doesn't get it,_ he thought. Two tables over, another barista - he thought her name was Ginger - put her head in her hands.

“What? Look, I know you think she likes me, Ferb. But...really. She’s the most beautiful barista in the most popular coffee shop in town. I’m sure she has guys asking her out all the time. The last thing she needs is some guy who can’t even get an invention to last the whole day hitting on her. Maybe once we hit it big, I’ll ask her out.” He gazed at her wistfully, not noticing her looking away from him quickly.

“I beg to differ,” Ferb said quietly. “She’s certainly attractive, but I don’t know that I’d consider her the most beautiful of the baristas.” He looked in the direction of Gretchen, who quickly looked down at her book. Ginger was making gagging noises, which Ferb ignored.

“So why don’t you ask Gretchen out?”

Ferb sighed and nodded, acknowledging Phineas’s point. _Because I'm just as terrified of rejection as you are?_

* * *

Ginger sat and nursed her coffee. _So, Isabella and Gretchen’s freaky inventors are interested in them right back_ , she thought. _I could probably tell them, but they’d never believe me._

The door opened again, and Ginger’s heart skipped a beat. _It’s him. Doctor Baljeet Tjinder._ She ran the name around her head a few times, sighing at the sound of it. The short Indian man looked to be in a hurry as he asked Gretchen for a chai latte, which Isabella started preparing for him.

“Hey, Baljeet!” Phineas said from the table he shared with his brother. “What brings you here in this weather?”

"Oh, the clinic that I volunteer at was closed today, so I decided to go for a brisk walk. Exercise is good for you!"

Phineas looked out the window. "It's a blizzard out there, Baljeet."

"That shouldn't stop you," Baljeet said.

From the counter, Isabella said, "Chai latte for Doctor Tjinder."

"Ah, that's mine. Have a good day, you two." He picked up his drink and, waving to Phineas and Ferb, headed out the door into the snow.

Ginger sighed. _He didn't even notice me. Maybe Isabella's right. Why would a doctor want to pay any attention to a lowly barista? He's totally out of my league. Maybe when I finish my degree._

She looked up and saw Isabella gazing at Phineas again. The brothers were making plans for their next invention, the one that would hit it big for sure. _On the other hand, maybe I have some leverage._

Before she could convince herself not to, she stood up and went over to Phineas and Ferb's table. "May I join you?" she asked, noticing Isabella and Gretchen both suddenly giving her their undivided attention.

Ferb gestured toward an empty seat, which she took.

"You're...Ginger, right? I’ve seen you around here." Phineas asked. "What's up?"

"Have you two known Doctor Tjinder for a while?" she asked.

"Doctor Tjinder...oh, Baljeet? Yeah, we went to school with him for years, until he graduated early so he could go to medical school. Youngest person to become a doctor in the Tri-State Area. Why?" Phineas answered.

"Is he...seeing anyone?" she asked quietly.

Phineas looked at Ferb, who shook his head. "Not that I know of," Phineas replied. "He broke up with Mishti years ago, and..."

"Could you introduce me to him?" Lowering her voice to make sure Isabella and Gretchen couldn't hear, she continued, "I have...information you may be interested in that I'd be willing to trade."

"Information...? About?" Phineas responded, intrigued. He saw her glance up at Isabella and Gretchen at the counter, and said, "Oh."

Ferb spoke up, quietly. "Actually, by just making the offer, I suspect you've told us everything we need to know. As a coworker, you would know if our interests are reciprocated, and you wouldn’t be offering to tell us about it if they weren’t."

Ginger looked at him, shocked. "But..."

Phineas nodded his head at Ferb. "He's the brains. I'm the mouth. You can see why."

Ginger started to tear up. _So close...there goes my leverage._

Phineas smiled. "Hey, don't cry. We didn't say we wouldn't help. Ferb...what do you think? Party plan M-5?"

"M-6a, I think," Ferb said quietly.

"Oh, right. Dubstep, not polka. Ginger, here's our address - we'll throw a party Friday night. We'll invite Baljeet, and you. We'll arrange for an introduction - anything else is up to you. Deal?"

Ginger nodded, unable to speak.

"Okay. Now I need to go invite Isabella and Gretchen, too." Phineas got up and walked to the counter. He took a deep breath, and said with forced casualness, “Hey, we’re throwing a party on Friday night. You’re both invited, if you’d like to come.”

Gretchen smiled broadly, and said, “I’ll definitely be there!”

Isabella sighed. “Sorry. I’m working that night.”

Phineas’s shoulders slumped. “Oh. Okay. How late? We probably won’t get seriously started until 8 or so, and I didn’t think you were open much later than that.”

She perked up again. “Oh! We close at 9, so I could come over then, if that’s okay...”

“That’d be great. I’m really looking forward to seeing you there.”

Ferb looked down at his phone, and said, "Looks like power's back at home."

Phineas smiled at Isabella, making Ginger want to gag again at the starstruck look on Isabella's face, and said, "Guess we need to go start preparing, then. See you around?"

Phineas and Ferb headed out the door into the snow. Isabella and Gretchen looked at each other and squealed.

"Ginger, what did you say to them? How did you get us invited to their party?" Isabella asked.

"I asked them to find a way to introduce me to Doctor Tjinder. They...um...decided to invite all three of us so it didn't look quite so obvious that they were inviting me to set me up with him." _That sounds good, and lets the boys surprise them on Friday night._

"Oh," Gretchen said. She looked a little crestfallen that she was being invited as cover, but Isabella shook her a little bit.

"Doesn't matter, Gretchen. We're going to a party with Phineas and Ferb," Isabella said. "Best Valentine's Day _ever_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may continue this if there's interest, or if I get au-coffee shop on my next bingo board.
> 
> Worth noting: I don’t drink coffee, although I have been known to enjoy the (very) occasional mocha. (They’re bad for my diet, and I have odd reactions to caffeine due to ADHD.) If I messed up my coffee terminology or coffee shop etiquette, that’s why.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve re-rated this to T, since we’re getting more serious here and wandering into things that aren’t covered by the original G rating. My apologies to anyone who is discomfited by this change.
> 
> There’s one more chapter after this one, which will be posted tomorrow.

They were just getting ready for people to start arriving when Phineas and Ferb’s older sister Candace stopped by with her young daughter, Amanda. Amanda started playing with Phineas and Ferb’s pet platypus, Perry, who put up with her enthusiastic petting with a look of amused tolerance.

“Looks like there's some sort of party going on here tonight. You know Mom doesn’t want you throwing parties when they’re out of town,” Candace said.

Phineas shrugged. “It’ll be fine. It’s not a big party. More of an...intimate get-together.”

Candace’s eyes narrowed. “I’m watching you. You guys are _so_ busted.” She turned and headed out to bring Amanda home.

Perry, now that Amanda had left, paused to chatter at Phineas before he climbed into his bed, turned around three times, and lay down.

Phineas shook his head at the platypus, then welcomed Ginger as she arrived. “So glad you could make it. Baljeet isn’t here yet, but he said he’d come.”

“Thank you so much for this,” Ginger said. “I really hope it works.”

* * *

After closing the café for the night, Isabella arrived back at the apartment she shared with Gretchen, only to find Gretchen pacing the floor wearing the short red dress she’d bought the day before.

“Why aren’t you at the party?” Isabella asked as she headed into her bedroom to change into the outfit she’d picked out before her shift started.

“I...couldn’t get up the courage to go without you. What if they aren’t interested? What if this really is all just for Ginger? What if...”

“It’ll be fine, Gretchen. Just dress to kill. They’ve only seen us in those bland uniforms. When they get an eyeful of us dressed up...”

Isabella stepped back out of the bedroom, dressed in her off-the-shoulder top and miniskirt. “They aren’t going to know what hit them,” she finished.

Gretchen smiled hesitantly. “You’re right. Let’s knock their socks off.”

Isabella gave a hungry grin. “It’s not his _socks_ I want to get off of him.”

* * *

Ferb sighed. The smallish party was going fine, there were a dozen or so people having a good time, but the three people that they’d thrown it for weren’t here yet. Baljeet had yet to arrive, and Gretchen and Isabella were also still absent.

Isabella, at least, had said she’d be late due to work, but that didn’t explain the other two. Ferb had a sinking feeling that Gretchen wasn’t going to show at all, and if he failed to produce Baljeet, then Ginger would be (rightfully) heartbroken as well. This did not look like it was going to end well.

A knock at the front door stirred him from his thoughts; Phineas, active as always, had rushed to the door, opening it to reveal Baljeet. _Well, that’s one load off my mind,_ Ferb thought. _Now I just need Gretchen to get here._

Phineas took Baljeet’s coat and hung it up, then led him off, deeper into the house, presumably looking for Ginger.

Ferb waited near the front door, awaiting the final two guests. Time seemed to stretch out. He could hear the party behind him, folks celebrating getting through the recent blizzard, or just taking an excuse to unwind after the week.

Another knock on the door startled him, and he opened it to find Gretchen and Isabella shivering in quite revealing - and attractive - outfits. “Come in,” he said quickly. “I’m so happy you were able to make it.”

“Thank you,” Isabella said as she entered the warm house. “Is...Phineas here?”

Ferb pointed vaguely back into the house without taking his eyes off Gretchen. “He was showing Baljeet something that way.” Isabella took the hint and headed off.

Gretchen smiled at him. She was wearing a short red dress that clung to her, showing her ample chest and fabulous legs...and yet he found himself unable to look away from her enthralling blue eyes, surrounded by thin-framed glasses. “Hi,” she said. “Sorry I’m late. I decided to wait for Isabella so we could come over together.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “As long as you’re here now. Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, I’m good, thanks,” she said. “Need to make sure I don’t do anything I don’t intend to do.”

Ferb raised an eyebrow. “And what do you intend to do?”

She flushed and looked down, away from him. He stepped closer to her and tipped her chin up with one finger, leaning in to give her a gentle kiss.

* * *

Baljeet wondered who this person Phineas said he had to meet was. Clearly this was important to Phineas.

He saw the pretty Japanese barista from the Fireside Café across the room, and wondered how Phineas had gotten her to come to his party. Baljeet had been noticing the attractive young woman - Ginger - for several months now, but had not yet gotten up the courage to talk to her about anything real. Now, seeing her dressed up in an emerald-green dress...perhaps it was time to try dating again. The demands of medical school had sunk his relationship with Mishti, but now he was done with that, and had time to spend with a partner.

Phineas was leading him over to her for some reason. Was Phineas dating her? That could explain it - he wanted to introduce the new woman in his life to his friends. That may have been the whole point of this party.

Baljeet sighed. Of course she would like Phineas. He was dynamic, and interesting, and talkative, and fun to be with. Baljeet could talk about medicine and math all you might like, but not much else.

“Baljeet, I think you’ve met Ginger Hirano at the café? Ginger, this is my friend from elementary school, Dr. Baljeet Tjinder.”

“Very nice to see you again, Ginger. What brings you here?”

Before she could answer, a raspy voice behind him yelled, “‘Jeet! You’re here!” Baljeet suddenly found himself grabbed up in a bear hug by his old friend/enemy Buford and carried off.

 _I hope Phineas and Ginger work out together_ , he thought as Buford slapped him on the back. _I will try not to be jealous._

* * *

Perry lay in his bed, dreaming. In his dreams, he snuck off when his owners weren’t looking. Wearing a dashing fedora, he was the bane of evil scientists throughout the Tri-State Area. In tonight’s dream, he was fighting the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz, who was attempting to take over the Tri-State Area using a device called an Freeze-inator.

Perry and the scientist fought an epic battle, back and forth, random beams from the Freeze-inator going off and freezing things unexpectedly before Perry got the upper hand and hit the self-destruct button. He leapt away to a cry of, “CURSE YOU, PERRY THE PLATYPUS!”

Perry hit the floor with a thud, waking up. He’d jumped out of his bed while dreaming, apparently.

 _Who am I kidding?_ Perry thought. _I’m just a platypus. I don’t do much._

* * *

Phineas shook his head as Buford carried Baljeet off. “Sorry about that, Ginger,” he said. “I forgot that Buford hasn’t seen Baljeet for a while. I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Think you can take it from here?”

Ginger nodded. “Yeah. I’m hoping to get him alone later and tell him how much I’ve wanted to get to know him. Thank you so much for your help.”

“Not a problem. I should head back to the door before Isabella gets here. The last thing I want is for her to see us, decide that we’re a couple, and think I’m declaring my undying love for you, like this was a bad sitcom or something.”

Behind him, Phineas heard a strangled cry. He turned around, seeing Isabella with a horrified look on her face. Before he could react, she turned and ran back toward the front door.

* * *

Isabella wandered after Phineas, and found him talking to Ginger. He was wearing a Love Händel Reunion Tour shirt and jeans, and she wanted nothing more than to grab him and bury her fingers in that shock of red hair.

And then she heard him talking to Ginger. “...my undying love for you...”

_No. Not that. He loves...Ginger. That was why he threw the party. Not to set her up with Baljeet. To claim her for himself. She set me up to humiliate me._

She couldn’t keep the cry of anguish from her lips. Phineas turned and looked at her, alarmed.

Unable to bear it, she turned and ran. _Phineas and Ginger. Of course. I was such a fool to think he’d want me._

She heard him cry, “Isabella, wait!” but she didn’t want to hear about how happy the two of them were together. She rushed past Gretchen and Ferb, necking on the couch by the front door, and ran out into the front yard. Grabbing her keys, she was suddenly glad they'd taken her car tonight; Ferb could give Gretchen a ride home tomorrow morning.

* * *

Baljeet sat on the back steps, the glow from the kitchen window at his back, numb to the cold February weather. He looked up at the stars, wondering if he would ever find someone to be with. He had thought maybe Ginger could be it, but she was with Phineas. He wished them well, he supposed, but right now their happiness was rather cold comfort.

 _Someday,_ he thought. _Just, apparently, not today._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We didn’t need that fourth wall anyway, right?
> 
> If you've read Jack of Fables, I envision Perry in a role similar to Babe the Blue Ox.


	3. Chapter 3

Phineas rushed after Isabella. He heard the front door slam, and headed out himself, only to see her driving away in a huff. He stopped and hung his head.

_The most incredible woman I’ve ever met, and I blew it with a stupid joke that she overheard exactly wrong._

_Yet another mark on my long tally of failures._

He trudged back into the house. Ferb and Gretchen were entangled on the couch, but both looking up at him.

“What happened?” Gretchen asked.

“I was talking to Ginger and made a joke about how, in a bad sitcom, Isabella would come in and see us and think I was declaring my love for Ginger. Apparently, my life is a bad sitcom.”

Gretchen winced. “She’d especially hate that it was Ginger.”

“And now I have no idea where to go to track her down.”

Gretchen said, “Knowing her, she’s probably heading back to the apartment for a date with a pint of ice cream. I know there’s some Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer.”

Phineas thought for a moment. “Where’s the apartment?”

* * *

Baljeet was starting to get cold, but he stubbornly refused to go back inside. He’d have to see _them_ , and he really wasn’t up to that. He wondered if he could slip around the house and make it to his car without tripping over anything in the dark.

Behind him, the door opened. “Hey, what are you doing out here? It’s freezing.” Ginger asked.

_Guess I don’t get away after all_ , he thought.

“Just thinking,” he said. “How long have you and Phineas been together?”

Ginger snorted, her breath steaming in the cold night air. “Me? And the weird inventor dude? Nice enough guy, but he’s not my type. Besides, Isabella would kill me dead. Deader than she’s already going to. Hopefully he catches up with her before she poisons my coffee.” She closed the door and sat down beside him.

Baljeet looked over at her, her face shadowed. “Oh. I apologize, he made a point of introducing us, and that seemed the logical explanation."

Ginger looked away from him. “I asked him to introduce us,” she said in a small voice.

Baljeet blinked. “Why?” he asked.

She turned her face back toward him; he could see sparkles in her eyes, like they were wet. “Because...I'd like to get to know you. You seem interesting and nice.” She shivered.

Baljeet slid over next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “That sounds like a good place to start,” he said. "Hi, I am Baljeet."

* * *

Phineas found the address Gretchen had gave him; it was a small apartment building with about ten units. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten to grab his jacket in his haste, so he rubbed his bare arms as he looked around for the right apartment. She’d said unit six, which he found on the second floor; he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Go away,” he heard Isabella say from the other side of the door.

“Isabella, it’s me. Phineas. Can we talk for a minute?”

The door opened a crack, stopped by the security chain. “What?” she asked.

“I’m not sure what you heard, but there’s nothing between me and Ginger. I was joking about how bad it would be if you came in and saw us and thought we were a couple...and then you did, and it wasn’t funny any more. The woman I was hoping to see more of after the party...was you.”

The door closed slightly, and he heard the chain rattle before it opened wider. He could see her now; she was still wearing the pink top and black skirt he’d briefly seen her in earlier, but her makeup was smudged from crying, and there was a small dab of chocolate at the corner of her mouth. She looked at him as if she were worried that he was going to vanish at any moment.

"I totally overreacted, didn't I?" she asked.

"I don't think I'd have reacted any better if the situation were reversed," he admitted. "Can I come in?"

With a hesitant smile, she opened the door wider and stepped aside to let him in, closing the door behind him. He looked around the living room; the TV was on and currently showing a car insurance commercial, and a container of ice cream sat on the coffee table, a spoon sticking out of it. Blushing, she picked up the ice cream and took it into the kitchen as he sat on the edge of the couch.

She returned and sat next to him, looking at him with her eyes wide, seemingly unsure what to do next. _That makes two of us._

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I...I need to let you know what happened. Ginger asked us to set up the party so she could meet Baljeet. In exchange for that, she told us that you and Gretchen were interested in me and Ferb, because she overheard us talking about how we were interested in you two. From what I saw, she was right about Gretchen...and from your reaction, she was right about you?”

Isabella nodded, sliding closer to him on the couch. “Yes. I didn’t know how to say it.”

He put his arm around her bare shoulders, thrilling at the skin-to-skin contact with his bare arm. “How much time do you think we’ve wasted from not being able to put this into words?”

“Too much,” she whispered as her lips met his. He could taste the chocolate on her lips, and possibly mint, and then thoughts of anything but the beautiful woman in his arms went away entirely.

* * *

Ferb had reluctantly disengaged from Gretchen to play host when Phineas left, and things were starting to wind down. Baljeet and Ginger left, holding hands and saying they both had to work early the next morning. They were making plans to meet up after work as they split off to go to their homes for the night.

That was the signal for other people to start heading out as well. As Buford, the last guest other than Gretchen, finally got moving, Phineas drove up, Isabella riding with him.

“Sorry to leave you in the lurch, bro,” Phineas said. “Everything went okay?”

Ferb nodded. “Ginger and Baljeet seem to have figured things out as well.” Gretchen had intercepted Isabella, and the two of them were giggling about something with occasional glances back at Phineas and him. “You two worked things out?”

Phineas grinned broadly. “Yes. Yes, we did.”

“Good. Let’s get cleaning. Mom and Dad are due home tomorrow morning, and whether we call tonight an intimate get-together or not, if the house is a mess, they’ll be livid.”

“Sounds like time to break out the Clean-O-Tronic, Ferb.”

“What’s that?” Gretchen said as she linked her arm into Ferb’s.

“An invention we built. It cleans things,” Phineas said with a grin.

“If it makes the mess any worse, you’re cleaning it up, Phineas,” Ferb said.

“No, it’ll be fine. You’ll see.” Phineas headed off into the basement, returning a moment later with what looked like a mailbox with six arms. He set it on its wheels, pulled a remote from his pocket, and pushed a large green button on it. The arms jerked as the mailbox started to move, then it stopped suddenly with a loud _pop_ as a bit of smoke started to come out of the top.

Phineas sighed. “Okay, maybe not.” He picked up the mailbox and carried it back downstairs.

Isabella shook her head, chuckling. “Can we help?”

“That would be marvelous,” Ferb said.

* * *

Linda got out of the car, exhausted after their long plane flight and the ride back from the airport. She’d gotten a bit of sleep on the plane, and needed to stay up to get her internal clock reset to local time, but the idea of crawling into bed was incredibly tempting. Her husband, Lawrence, popped the trunk open and grabbed their suitcases, following her into the house.

Neither of their sons, Phineas and Ferb, were moving yet, apparently; unsurprising, it being early on a Saturday morning. Their daughter, Candace, burst through the front door, shouting, “Ah-HAH!” Candace looked around. “But...they had a party last night. Where’s the mess? Where’s the stains?”

Linda shook her head. Candace’s need to catch her brothers doing something - _anything_ \- wrong still hadn’t gone away. “It certainly doesn’t look like anything happened, Candace,” she said, “but if it turns out that they’re busted for some reason, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

Candace grumbled as she headed back out the front door.

Lawrence sat down heavily at the kitchen table. Linda turned on the coffee maker, then went to join him.

To Linda’s surprise, a young auburn-haired woman wearing eyeglasses and one of Ferb’s shirts padded barefoot into the kitchen. She was startled to see them, an “Eep!” escaping her lips.

Ferb, dressed in his pajama pants, came into the kitchen behind her. “Oh, hello Mum, hello Dad. I didn’t expect you home quite so early.”

Linda raised an eyebrow expectantly.

“Gretchen, this is my mother, Linda, and my father, Lawrence. Mum, Dad, this is Gretchen.”

Gretchen gave them her best “please don’t eat me” smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said.

“Nice to meet you too, Gretchen,” Linda said. Turning to Ferb, she said, “Candace said there was a party here last night.”

“Not a party, no,” Ferb said. “More like...an intimate get-together.”

Yawning, a black-haired young woman wearing one of Phineas’s shirts entered the kitchen. “I smell coffee,” she mumbled before stopping in her tracks at the unexpected people at the table. 

Phineas, walking behind her in his robe, stopped short as well. “Oh! Uh...hi, Mom and Dad. This is Isabella,” he said. “Isabella, these are my parents, Lawrence and Linda.”

Linda sat back in her chair. “A very intimate get-together, from the looks of it.”

Four people facing her all blushed as one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many, many thanks to everyone who said they wanted more of this. I hope I’ve met your expectations.
> 
> I don’t have any solid plans to come back to this setting, but wouldn’t say it won’t ever happen. I didn’t have any solid plans to continue it after the first chapter, after all.


End file.
